Johnson & Johnson board member Dr. Mark McClellan told CNBC on Friday that there may be enough vaccination for the entire adult US population by summer.
“Assuming that all the detailed analysis of J&J data happens, we will have the ability among Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, to have enough vaccines available by June for the entire adult population of the United States,” McClellan, former FDA commissioner, said in “The News with Shepard Smith. ”
The United States plans to buy 200 million doses of the Covid vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer. The Department of Health and Human Services will increase its supply of vaccines to the states from 8.6 million to a minimum of 10 million doses per week. So far, states have received more than 49 million doses, but only about half of them ended up in people’s arms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency reports that the United States is administering just over one million shots every day.
McClellan said the United States should significantly increase the number of injections administered per day and “increase our vaccination capacity to closer to 3 million doses per day”.
The United States has ordered 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine, which the company plans to deliver by June. J&J plans to apply for emergency use authorization next week. If the J&J vaccine is authorized by the FDA, it will be the third vaccine approved for emergency use in the United States. The Pfizer vaccine was authorized by the FDA on December 11, and Moderna was authorized a week later.
The efficacy numbers of the J&J vaccine were lower than those of Pfizer and Moderna. The Pfizer vaccine was found to be 95% effective against Covid-19 prevention, while Moderna was found to be about 94% effective. The J&J vaccine has been shown to be 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe Covid.
Host Shepard Smith asked McClellan about the lower efficacy numbers compared to Pfizer and Moderna, and he explained to Smith that “we are fighting a different virus today than it was three months ago, when previous tests were done”.
In addition, J&J tested it on three continents and the level of protection varied by region. His vaccine has generally shown 72% effectiveness in the United States and 66% in Latin America. In South Africa, where the dangerous Covid B.1.351 strain caused a sudden increase in cases, the J&J vaccine proved 57% effective.
“Unfortunately, we will probably be fighting a different virus in three months, so the most important thing in winning this battle is to vaccinate as many people as possible,” said McClellan. “The faster we get vaccines, the more people we vaccinate here in this country and around the world, the better we will do to contain this spread and the additional damage from Covid.”